By Munir Varraich, Sweden

Recently in a move to find solution to the violent reaction to the film trailer, there is a campaign to get signatures to have a “Charter of Morality” which should be in place so as to avoid the repeat of such a happening.

Let us not forget that a “Charter of Morality” is already available with the Muslim World, the Christian World, the Budhist and Hindu World. That actually means that majority of Mankind does have a “Charter of Morality”, whether it is the same or is different from one another is a different discussion.

The problem is the “Implementation” of their respective “Charters of Morality” by the “religious leadership” of mankind.

The religious leadership is facing the same problem which the United Nations Organisation (UNO) is facing.

It comes out with “fantastic, high sounding resolutions” but has no power of its own to implement those because there is a “Security Council” which has a VETO power. Surely, the powers sitting in the Security Council is guided by some kind of “Charter of Morality”, which is commonly labelled as “American Values” or the “Democratic Values”, without going into any specifics or details. The common man can interpret those “values” according to their own conditions, depending upon which part of the world he belongs to. The interpretation in the developed world is quite different than in the developing world. The only thing that the developed and the developing world could agree on is that the “values” which guide the Security Council are NOT Universal for mankind as a whole.

One of the reasons is the religious leadership. Christian and Budhist worlds have their respective religious leadership in the shape of the “Pope” and “Dalai Lama”. However, the Muslim World is  like a “rudderless ship”. The Captain of this ship, which was a “Symbol of Unity for the Muslim World”, was lost way back in the “final battle” between the Muslim World and the West in 1917, with the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate. Since then the Muslim World has been directed not by the “Charter of Morality” in the Quran, instead those golden rules have been directed and influenced by the “egoistic interpretation of the Quran” by the Islamic religious scholars, according to their vested interests. Consequently the outcome is a set of contradictions and the “morality” which was supposed to be the reason of “Unity” in the Muslim World, was twisted and became an instrument and a weapon in the hands of the religious scholars to declare a war amongst themselves.

During these last 100 years, the world has changed. Human Nature demands from “religions” a “Charter of Morality” which is NOT the outcome of EGOISTIC interpretations of Christian, Islamic, or Buddhist “Moralities”, but has in it the strength to “uplift a tottering Humankind”. Earlier in history when humankind faced such situations, “prophets” were raised who were guided by “supranatural revelation”. Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad stand out in religious history which guided humankind to pass that phase in humankind’s moral evolution.

However, the situation right now is different. There is no room for “blind faith”. Human Nature demands a “teaching”, a set of morals and values, which along with the concept of “revelation” is also  supported and endorsed by logic, reason and rationality. The “morality” put forward by such a teaching must not hide behind the shield of “short cuts” put forward by the religious scholars of today, who, unfortunately have miserably failed to provide solutions to problems of this technological advanced human civilization. The revealed books – Bhagwat Gita, Bible or Quran – if those have to be the guidance for humanity, have to come up with logical and rational arguments.

If the old “religions” and the “Morality” which those religions present to Human Nature does not fall in line, to the demands of Human Nature, and the religious leadership refuses to put in the “hard work” required, which can match the “hard work” which the “scientist” is putting in to discover the secrets of the “Laws of Nature”, then according to the Law of Nature, “any life form which does not contribute to the Evolution Process of Life in this Universe is replaced and meets its death”. This Law is universal and is not selective for Christians, Muslims or any other religious outfit which does not respect this Universal Law.

The only “Charter of Morality” at this juncture of Humankind’s history must cater for the CHALLENGE which mankind is facing today. The interpretation of this challenge cannot be confined to “Islam, Christianity or Buddhism”, or any other religion and cannot be exclusive of the scientist, whether theist or an atheist. And, it cannot be dictated by color, creed or race.

It has to be interpreted in a “secular” manner. The logic and rationality is simple: Laws of Nature are “secular” and when it comes to defining “God”,  which is the “Source” of “Morality”, that needs to be above and beyond the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and the Islamic definition of “God”. The Creator of Universe perforce has to be a “Secular God” which has no favorites. Only such a concept of God can become the “Source” of a “Universal Charter of Morality”.

The other condition is that the “Source” needs to “connected” to the “human species” which is going to IMPLEMENT the “Universal Charter of Morality” by a continuing, un-interrupted “communication system”, the signals of which could be picked up by the Human Mind in any part of the Universe, planet Earth included.

This signing campaign which is now being circulated and also being signed by many, happens to be in response to the recent the “injured feelings of the Muslim World” and no one else. The scope is once again not universal but limited to the religious world, Islam in this case. In fact this appeal is lopsided, which has not catered for the atheist nor the “scientist” and nor those religious minorities which have long suffered at the hands of religious scholars in the last one hundred years and continue to do so.

The authors of this “appeal” to “Google” need to come out of the “cocoon” and list out the “rationality” and some “technical logic” as to “WHY” this “Charter of Morality” is so important.

Of course “Google” is going to retort: “Which Morality” are we talking about?